WesternU Holds Cadaver Memorial

Western University of Health Sciences (Pomona, CA) students honored their first teachers and patients at the student-sponsored Cadaver Memorial Service on Oct. 28, 2014.

Students who completed their gross anatomy course organized the memorial service for 52 Willed Body Program donors and their families, with special recognition by the Military Medical Student Association to the 13 donors who served in the military.

Students in the osteopathic medicine, podiatric medicine, dental medicine, and medical sciences programs shared personal thoughts and memories, read poetry and performed music and magic in honor of the donors.

“In some ways what he’s saying is life is relatively brief, and that humanity’s collective play is sung by the individual verses that we all get to speak in the brief time that we have here on earth,” Reed said. “I think the individuals who donated their bodies to us understood this, to some capacity. They’ve sung their verses very loudly, in my opinion, in teaching us. For me and others I talked to, I think their verses will echo on inside of us both now and on into the future.”